Valley City Times-Record

Spring mammals appearance indicate spring is near

- By Chelsey Schaefer VCTR Correspone­nt

This past week has felt like spring, with temperatur­es in the melting range!

It’s not only the humans of the Great Plains that think this, eitheranyo­ne else smelled a skunk yet? While skunk perfume is not the most wonderful scent in the world, it does indicate that the stinky animal warmed up enough to go forage for food. That’s a welcome indicator to us of the coming spring.

Skunks in our area are only the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), but in the very southeast corner of our state, the eastern spotted skunk is an occasional visitor (Spilogale putorius).

Those two are in the family Mephitidae, which is known for its stinky secretions.

This fluid can be sprayed up to 20 feet, although not very accurately at that distance, according to Seabloom’s Mammals of North Dakota.

Both females and males weigh between 4 and 9 pounds. Although females are usually smaller than males, when the mothers are caring for their children they are typically aggressive toward the males- no comparison between them and human mothers intended.

As they are mainly nocturnal, skunks move quite far while foraging in the dark, but don’t move as far afield during the day- they stick closer to their rest areas.

The subject of their foraging is quite various; skunks are very opportunis­tic and will eat whatever they can find. This includes domestic poultry eggs and also the chickens themselves, so if you are setting live traps inside barns to catch egg bandits or chicken killers, beware that you may have a stinky surprise instead of the expected raccoon!

Seabloom says that in the spring, skunks tend to focus on insect prey.

Like our weasel family members, skunks may also practice delayed implantati­on, though Seabloom is not certain of that. After gestation begins, it lasts for about two months and skunk kits are born in May, with an average litter size of 7. After six to seven weeks, they begin to forage with Mom.

A mammal that hasn’t been spotted quite yet but is an even more sure indicator of spring is the Richardson’s ground squirrel, also known as the Flickertai­l (Urocitellu­s richardson­ii). It is this gopher that our state is named for (“The Flickertai­l State”). The flickertai­l belongs to the squirrel family (Sciuridae).

Those unfamiliar with this critter will believe that strange prairie birds make the piercing whistle so common to open grasslands, but in reality, it actually comes from the flickertai­ls. Flickertai­ls are very interestin­g creatures to watch- they play-chase each other and sometimes stop their play to sit on all fours and flick their tails.

That’s how they received their name: those little tails tend to stay parallel to the ground or at a slight upward angle as the ground squirrel motivates around and then they flick upward and back down very quickly, usually accompanie­d by a whistling vocalizati­on.

Flickertai­ls like hayfields and heavily grazed pastures in the country, and Seabloom says they even will colonize open urban areas like parks and golf courses.

This animal is not extremely welcomed in any of those areas, though, because of their large entrance mounds. Those big dirt mounds can break back a sickle mower while simultaneo­usly bouncing the driver nearly off their seat. If they call a golf course home, then there are many more than 18 holes.

They also eat whatever they can find, even practicing cannibalis­m with roadkilled flickertai­ls. Seabloom considers 90% of their diet to be plant material.

Interestin­gly enough, their gestation is a mere 22 days and produces an average of 8 pups, although the number can range from 4 to 13. During those 22 days of gestation, the female is busily gathering mouthful after mouthful of lining material for her undergroun­d nest.

After another month, they are weaned and fully furred, emerging from the burrow. Juveniles are easy to spot, as their smaller size gives them away. Their curiosity, though, is not proportion­ate to their body size like most young animals. They frolic, play, and investigat­e much more so than adults.

We’re a little too early to see the flickertai­ls yet, but it’s a nice warm-up to read about them before we can see them. Just think- when we can see flickertai­ls, most of the snow will be melted and we’ll be able to see the dirt again. Can’t have ground squirrels without ground!

 ?? Pinterest image. ?? Richardson’s Ground Squirrel or Flickertai­l- either name refers to this little gopherlike mammal in the squirrel family. They are a lovely sandy color, give quite the little whistle, and flick their tails so much that they were named after that behavior.
Pinterest image. Richardson’s Ground Squirrel or Flickertai­l- either name refers to this little gopherlike mammal in the squirrel family. They are a lovely sandy color, give quite the little whistle, and flick their tails so much that they were named after that behavior.

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